olusegun adekanye's spinal disc replacement operation performed by Dr. Nick Thomas at the Blackheath Hospital.Part 2

What is Esophageal Dilation?
Esophageal dilation is a procedure that allows your doctor to dilate, or stretch, a narrowed area of your esophagus [swallowing tube]. Doctors can use various techniques for this procedure. Your doctor might perform the procedure as part of a sedated endoscopy. Alternatively, your doctor might apply a local anesthetic spray to the back of your throat and then pass a weighted dilator through your mouth and into your esophagus.
Why is it Done?
The most common cause of narrowing of the esophagus, or stricture, is scarring of the esophagus from reflux of acid occurring in patients with heartburn. Patients with a narrowed portion of the esophagus often have trouble swallowing; food feels like it is "stuck" in the chest region, causing discomfort or pain. Less common causes of esophageal narrowing are webs or rings (which are thin layers of excess tissue), cancer of the esophagus, scarring after radiation treatment or a disorder of the way the esophagus moves [motility disorder].
How Should I Prepare for the Procedure?
An empty stomach allows for the best and safest examination, so you should have nothing to drink, including water, for at least six hours before the examination. Your doctor will tell you when to start fasting.
Tell your doctor in advance about any medications you take, particularly aspirin products or anticoagulants (blood thinners). Most medications can be continued as usual, but you might need to adjust your usual dose before the examination. Your doctor will give you specific guidance. Tell your doctor if you have any allergies to medications as well as medical conditions such as heart or lung disease. Also, tell your doctor if you require antibiotics prior to dental procedures, because you might need antibiotics prior to esophageal dilation as well.
What Can I Expect during Esophageal Dilation?
Your doctor might perform esophageal dilation with sedation along with an upper endoscopy. Your doctor may spray your throat with a local anesthetic spray, and then give you sedatives to help you relax. Your doctor then will pass the endoscope through your mouth and into the esophagus, stomach and duodenum. The endoscope does not interfere with your breathing. At this point your doctor will determine whether to use a dilating balloon or plastic dilators over a guiding wire to stretch your esophagus. You might experience mild pressure in the back of your throat or in your chest during the procedure. Alternatively, your doctor might start by spraying your throat with a local anesthetic. Your doctor will then pass a tapered dilating instrument through your mouth and guide it into the esophagus.
What Can I Expect after Esophageal Dilation?
After the dilation is done, you will probably be observed for a short period of time and then allowed to return to your normal activities. You may resume drinking when the anesthetic no longer causes numbness to your throat, unless your doctor instructs you otherwise. Most patients experience no symptoms after this procedure and can resume eating the next day, but you might experience a mild sore throat for the remainder of the day.
If you received sedatives, you probably will be monitored in a recovery area until you are ready to leave. You will not be allowed to drive after the procedure even though you might not feel tired. You should arrange for someone to accompany you home, because the sedatives might affect your judgment and reflexes for the rest of the day.
What are the Potential Complications of Esophageal Dilation?
Although complications can occur even when the procedure is performed correctly, they are rare when performed by doctors who are specially trained. A perforation, or hole, of the esophagus lining occurs in a small percentage of cases and may require surgery. A tear of the esophagus lining may occur and bleeding may result. Complications from heart or lung diseases are potential risks

Common Benign Pain Syndromes--Symptoms and Etiology:
1. Non-specific musculoskeletal pain: This is the most common cause of back pain. Patients present with lumbar area pain that does not radiate, is worse with activity, and improves with rest. There may or may not be a clear history of antecedent over use or increased activity. The pain is presumably caused by irritation of the paraspinal muscles, ligaments or vertebral body articulations. However, a precise etiology is difficulty to identify.
2. Radicular Symptoms: Often referred to as "sciatica," this is a pain syndrome caused by irritation of one of the nerve roots as it exits the spinal column. The root can become inflamed as a result of a compromised neuroforamina (e.g. bony osteophyte that limits size of the opening) or a herniated disc (the fibrosis tears, allowing the propulsus to squeeze out and push on the adjacent root). Sometimes, it's not precisely clear what has lead to the irritation. In any case, patient's report a burning/electric shock type pain that starts in the low back, traveling down the buttocks and along the back of the leg, radiating below the knee. The most commonly affected nerve roots are L5 and S1.
3. Spinal Stenosis: Pain starts in the low back and radiates down the buttocks bilaterally, continuing along the backs of both legs. Symptoms are usually worse with walking and improve when the patient bends forward. Patient's may describe that they relieve symptoms by leaning forward on their shopping carts when walking in a super market. This is caused by spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the central canal that holds the spinal cord. The limited amount of space puts pressure on the nerve roots when the patient walks, causing the symptoms (referred to as neurogenic claudication). Spinal stenosis can be congenital or develop over years as a result of djd of the spine. As opposed to true claudication (pain in calfs/lower legs due to arterial insufficiency), pain resolves very quickly when person stops walking and assumes upright position. Also, peripheral pulses should be normal.
4. Mixed symptoms: In some patients, more then one process may co-exist, causing elements of more then one symptom syndrome to co-exist.

I call this technique deep rendering. I basically stacked graphical cross-sections (in this case, MRI rendering data), using proper increments and clip through them with the camera. This way I am able to explore all internal components in full 3D real-time.

I actually was able to figure out how to colorize different organs to help distinguish them apart from each other but couldn't get the shader to render real-time in Maya.

Credit: MRI scans courtesy of University of Washington Digital Anatomist Program

different aging and other skin spots can be treated succesfully with Co2 laser.

A 54 year old man with a left leg tumor, a vascular malformation, undergoes resection (removal) of the tumor.

Median Sternotomy

Tie

This endoscopy shows a patient with cancer of the larynx, Laryngeal cancer is the most common cancer of the upper respiratory tract. The incidence of laryngeal tumors is closely correlated with smoking, as head and neck tumors occur 6 times more often among cigarette smokers than among nonsmokers. The age-standardized risk of mortality from laryngeal cancer appears to have a linear relationship with increasing cigarette consumption. Death from laryngeal cancer is 20 times more likely for the heaviest smokers than for nonsmokers. It should be suspected in any patient with hoarseness of the voice for three weeks or longer until proven otherwise.

Ultra Sound-Guided Interscalene Block

A video teaching how to give an intravenous injection

Robotic Prostatectomy: Cornell Athermal Robotic Technique

Rhumatic fever has almost been eraicated in the developed world, however it remains prevelent in many under developed countries and causes devastating damage to heart valves. Up till recently valve replacement was the treatment of choice. The long term results and sequelae of valve replacement are...

common knowledge. Mitral and tricuspid valve replacement results are on the whole far worse than for example Aortic valve. Mitral valve replacement should be the last resort and patients with very severe valvular and sub valvular mitral disease can nowadays be helped by mitral valve repair. NO MITRAL OR TRICUSPID VALVE SHOULD BE REPLACED IF IT CAN BE REPAIRED

A 49-year old female patient complainig of cough. X-ray and chest CTscan showed a 2.5cm nodule in the left upper lobe. Transthoracic biopsy was consistent with adenocarcinoma. PET-Scan and CT Scan showed no mediastinal disease. The procedure was performed through three incisions.

Bonding

Prostate Cancer spreads in 3 ways. First is spreads by local growth. Second it spreads through the lymphatic system, and lastly, it spreads through the blood stream. Dr. Patrick Swift, a radiation oncologist, discusses how prostate cancer spreads.

Herniated or Ruptured Disc: Between each of the vertebre of the spine is a disc which is filled with a gel type material to cushion the connection between the vertebre. With age or injury these intervertebral discs can rupture or herniate. This herniation causes them to push against the adjacent nerves which come from the spinal cord. This can frequently cause pain, numbenss and tingling. This animated video reviews herniated disc.

Conjoined twins Alex and Angel Mendoza from Phoenix, Ariz. were successfully separated after more than 12 hours in surgery, reports Dr. Debbye Turner Bell.

"Targeted" radiation therapy goes right to the problem, not throughout your system. Moreover, discomfort is minimal. ~ Detroit Medical Center

DMC Heart Imaging Specialist Doctor Mukarram Siddiqui uses minimally invasive surgery to install a pacemaker and defibrillator on patients, preventing the onset of heart failure and dramatically increasing quality of life. ~ Detroit Medical Center